


If I Were Like You

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Galra Keith (Voltron), Happy Ending, I'm sorry okay, M/M, Paralysis, Worry, don't worry it's temporary, klangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9543104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Keith is hurt and Lance's carefully built wall is effectively crushed. Keith's POV.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is not edited lol yolo

Keith forgot when he first started speculating. He knows it was a long time ago. When he saw a Galra for the first time, maybe. Looking at the symbol on the Galra ship when he was retrieving Red. Perhaps when Blue first started tugging at him, asking to be found, for Keith to bring her the Blue Paladin. 

Keith kept a grip on his old life, the one he knew was there when all he could recall was the feeling of the hilt of his knife in his small hands. When he thought the word mother, all that surfaced in his mind was the smell of lavender and summer rain. He clung like a drowning man to a family he prayed wanted him as much as he wanted them. 

Everyone has a family.

Not everyone's family loves them.

Keith imagined what his mother was like. Like me, he liked to think. Easily angered, socially awkward, and instinctual. She would be pretty, in a I-can-kick-your-ass kind of way. She would always be patient with Keith, even when he was so frustrated he'd cry and so angry he'd lash out at anything and everything.

Keith loved his foster family. Shiro was the best brother he could've asked for, but he longed. Words couldn't explain why he looked up at the sky as the world rushed around him. Shiro helped ground him, but his real family was out there. 

Then Shiro was gone. The one thing keeping him grounded was gone. 

His eyes strayed upward, his grades slipped downward, and the day Iverson tested him he knew he'd never fit in. Not with normal people who had families and could focus. 

My family, Keith concluded, is me, myself, and Shiro. 

He didn't look at the hilt of his knife for months. 

"I hate it," Keith cried. "I hate it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it."

He hated his fill-in-the-blank life. The shroud of mystery around him not only blocked him from others, but himself. He became detached. Study the cave. Map the data. Find Shiro. Nothing brought him joy. He was empty.

One night, to the tauntingly empty sky, he muttered, "If I were like you, my mother would have protected me."

Shiro didn't answer.

A long time passed by for Keith. He found Shiro (minus an arm and his memories but alive nonetheless) and piloted Red. His anger didn't subside, nor did his sadness. 

YOU FIGHT LIKE A GALRA

To this taunt, Keith thought, If that's what it takes. 

His anger swelled, his ever-present isolation shaped his thoughts.

I'll be the most ruthless Galra you've ever seen.

After that fight, after saving Shiro and returning to the Castle of Lions, Keith wanted to know everything. How far did the Galra expand toward Earth? How did Blue even get to Earth? Was his mother Galra? Did it go further back than that?

Keith didn't have much time to contemplate. The Blade of Marmora took care of that. He was Galra. No possible way to deny it. 

Allura hated him. He got a bad taste in his mouth every time she looked at him. Every time she ignored him. Every time she spat the word Galra. Keith was toxic in her eyes, and Keith couldn't find any real way to prove her wrong.

"If I were like you," Keith whispered to Shiro's closed doors, "Allura wouldn't despise my very existence."

Lance was… interesting. A skilled sniper, a kind and brave young man, smart and imaginative. Keith silently admired him. Very silently. He was almost afraid of anyone finding out he liked him. 

Could you blame him, though? Tall and dark skinned, with handsome features. Keith tried not to stare at his broad shoulders and dashing smile, and failed miserably. It was Lance's personality, though, that captured Keith's heart.

You're still our Keith.

What's a little Galra blood to a Paladin?

It's not your fault.

We still need the Red Paladin. 

Keith definitely didn't cry that night. Not a single tear. Nope.

"If I were like you," Keith resentfully growled into his pillow, referring to Lance, "you'd love me as much as I love you."

That was Keith's problem. Someone was always better. It didn't matter who they were, or even if they were really all that great, Keith always had to compare. What did Keith have to offer? He rushed into things, he fought like a maniac, he was Galra. Why did he have to pilot Red?

Keith lost part of himself when Shiro went missing. Back to his empty persona. Eat. Search. Train. Fight the Galra. Train. 

Find my brother.

Keith no longer cared for self-preservation. What did it matter if his brother was dead? The only person who truly cared. 

It didn't. Not to Keith. 

A regular mission. He couldn't pick out any difference. Another enslaved planet. Another Galra Lietenent. He didn't expect it until he woke up, out of Red and bleeding on the ground. 

His helmet was a few feet. Blood covered his com. He registered that he was in someone's lap. They were yelling. Maybe at him, maybe at people out of Keith's view. 

Keith groaned as he turned his head. Blue and white and brown blurred above him. Lance, Paladin of the Blue Lion.

He was crying.

He didn't know why this distressed him so much. Keith coughed and reached to wipe Lance's tears away. Lance was dramatic, sure, but he looked too serious, too upset.

"Keith," Lance sobbed, and Keith wanted to say, It's okay, I'm here, you're safe, but he only coughed again. He felt blood trickle down his cheek. "Help is coming, I promise."

Keith fingers curled in the dirt under his hand. He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. Battle raged somewhere nearby and Keith wanted to help, but he couldn't feel nor move his legs.

"Please keep you eyes open," Lance begged, and again Keith wanted him to please go back to normal. "Please, you can't die, you can't, not yet, not without me."

Keith finally croaked, "Lance."

Lance laughed. "It's okay, you'll be okay."

"No I won't," Keith whispered as the Yellow Lion passed overhead, coughing once more.

"YOU WILL," Lance demanded. "If you leave me I'll die. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you died."

Keith felt a sharp hollowness in his abdomen. His hand strayed to the wound, but Lance grabbed his wrist before he could touch it.

"You'll be healed, and you can go back to being cool and saving the universe," Lance insisted.

Keith's head lolled to the side weakly. The sounds of battle faded.

Lance tilted the Red Paladin's head back to face him and pressed his lips to Keith's. He stayed there for five ticks before leaning back. Blood was smudged on his lips and chin. His blue eyes studied Keith's violet ones, waiting for a reaction.

Lance must've pitied him, Keith reasoned. He must've found out Keith liked him and was trying to make him feel better in his last moments. 

Keith snaked his arm around Lance's neck, and let his limbs go limp, effectively making Lance lean forward to kiss him again. His lips tasted like salt and copper. 

Lance broke down, sobbing into Keith's chest, promising to get him help. Keith put his hand to the back of Lance's head, curling his fingers into Lance's locks of brown hair.

Then he realized his fingers were purple. 

The knowledge made Keith jerk, coughing again. "Go," he growled. "Go. Leave me."

Lance cried, "I can't."

"You're defenseless down here," Keith argued. "Fight. I'll be waiting. I can get help quicker if you fight."

Lance gently laid Keith on the ground. He pecked his lips one last time before running toward the Blue Lion. Keith watched him board and closed his eyes as he took off, the action kicking up dirt and leaves.

Keith doubted the battle would end in time. He still couldn't move his legs. He felt something sticking out of his side, though he couldn't feel it in him.

Keith shifted his shoulders to get more comfortable. He looked up at the yellow sky and coughed up some more blood.

He didn't know if he had been sleeping, but a humanoid figure was suddenly approaching him. A tall, hooded creature crouched over him and calmly touched his shoulder.

"I can help you," the person assured. They lifted their hood. "My name is Maliya, and you are Red Keith." They said it like Keethz. "You saved my father. My family owes you a debt." Keith nodded. They placed their hand on his forehead. "Sleep."

Keith woke up to shouting.

"How do we know you haven't made it worse?!" Lance yelled.

"Trust us!" Someone protested.

Keith groaned and rolled to his side, curling into a ball under his blankets.

"Wake, Red Keith," someone coaxed. "Blue Lance wishes to see you." 

Keith peeked up at the person who spoke. "Maliya," he croaked.

They smiled. "Yes, Red Keith. Maliya. Come, wake."

Keith sat up and, with a shock, realized he could feel move his legs. He laughed.

Maliya smiled. "I healed you."

Then he took in his purple skin. It was covered in dark scars. His hands and forearms, his legs, too. His side had a huge one, and it made Keith ill to look at.

"Scars are tricky," Maliya informed. "Galra skin keeps them. Trophies."

Keith tried to turn back, but he became light-headed quickly. Still too weak to hold onto his human genes. 

"Come with me," Maliya said. "A bath, and new clothes. Then Blue Lance." 

They held out their hands, and Keith took them. He shakily got to his feet. Maliya was stronger than they looked, thankfully. Keith stumbled a lot, and they always caught him.

"Hey, are you a boy, or a girl?" Keith asked as they lead him down an ornate hallway.

"I'm a girl," Maliya answered. She added, "What are you?"

"Oh, I'm a boy," Keith replied.

"And the others?" Maliya questioned.

"Princess Allura is a girl, and Coran is a boy," Keith began. "Pidge is a girl, and Hunk and Lance are also a boys."

Maliya nodded thoughtfully. She lead him into a bathroom.

"Galra boys can like other boys?" Maliya muttered.

Keith shrugged. "I wasn't raised by Galra parents. Humans raised me. On Earth, some places let anybody love anybody else. Others places say you have to like a girl if you're a boy, and a boy if you're a girl."

Maliya shifted her weight, a strand of black hair falling in her face, covering a strange tattoo. 

"Can I stay and talk?" she asked.

"Yes," Keith whispered. Maliya went to the other side of a divider, a screen to block her view. "What do you want to talk about?"

By the time Keith was dressed, Maliya had become a good friend. She had told him about her brother who was sometimes her sister, and the boy who her father wanted her to marry, and a girl who she couldn't stop thinking of being with. Keith, in turn, told her about Shiro, and his mysterious mother, and his crush on Lance, as well as his fear of never being as good as them. 

Keith was moving much easier after his bath, and he felt comfortable in his now clean clothes, but Maliya stuck close to his side. He was now in his human form, which made his scars fade. 

"Lance likes you back, I think," Maliya commented as they came back to the room they started at.

In his bonding with Maliya, he had tried to ignore the kisses he shared with the Blue Paladin. Pity. Nothing more.

"That's it!" 

Lance burst into the hallway, a few of Maliya's species (Layrans, on planet Kaur) followed, trying to subdue him. Lance froze when his eyes landed on Keith. 

He didn't have anymore blood on his lips, but there was some smudged on his cheek. His hair was a rat's nest, probably from running his hands through it non-stop. He did several things before speaking.

First, Lance scanned Keith for injuries, his eyes lingering on Keith's side. Next, he jerked his arms away from the Layran guards. Third, he waved the other Paladins forward and into the corridor. Lastly, he walked up to Keith and placed his hands on his shoulders, and leaned down to kiss him.

"I told you," Lance whispered. "You're all healed up."

Keith knit his eyebrows in confusion, but he was quickly pulled into a tearful embrace by Hunk.

"Oh, man, Keith," Hunk exclaimed. "We though you were a goner."

"Yeah, I was lucky Maliya was there," Keith said.

Maliya shook her head. "You were a brave fighter, Red Keith. It was the least I could do."

"Thank you," Lance told her. "I don't know how I can repay you, but I will."

Maliya nodded. "All you need to do is take care of Red Keith as he recovers."

Lance nodded to her.

When Hunk let go, Lance became glued to Keith's side, even grabbing his arm when the Red Paladin stumbled. 

Once aboard the Castle of Lions, and assured that the Red Lion was in pristine condition, Lance and Allura insisted he spend time in a cryopod. Keith agreed only because he was still having trouble coordinating his steps. After all, it couldn't hurt.

When Keith fell out of the cryopod, Lance caught him. The Blue Paladin wrapped his arms around Keith's waist to steady him. However, he tucked his head in the crook of Keith's neck just because he was able to.

"I'm fine," Keith argued weakly.

"A piece of metal was sticking out of you. You had cuts and gashes all over, and you were coughing up blood," Lance stated. Quietly, he added, "and I left you."

"I told you to go," Keith reminded.

"You were losing blood, you didn't know what you were saying. Anybody could have found you, and I left you defenseless," Lance said, carding his fingers through Keith's mullet. 

Keith pulled away from Lance, his hands resting on Lance's broad shoulders. Lance had tears in his eyes.

"Do you like me?" Keith blurted. He blushed. "Like, as a boyfriend?"

"Yes," Lance answered. "Do you like me back?" 

Keith looked at Lance for a long moment.

"Yes."

Lance released the breath he had been holding. He leaned in to kiss Keith again, and Keith kissed him back.

"You better not scare me like that again," Lance whispered.

Keith simply kissed him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you should comment


End file.
